CEOCFO: Dr. Kiernan, what was the
vision when iMetabolic Biopharma Corporation was founded? Where are you
today?

Dr. Kiernan:The company was
founded on the premise of developing therapies to treat obesity related
diseases, a plague in western society. In our scientific discovery, which
utilized conventional wet lab molecular biology techniques combined with
twenty first century molecular dynamic simulation and modeling, we were able
to come up with a strategy for the development of an initial therapeutic
program. As we now move directly into this drug discovery and development
process, our team has established a plan to target our primary indication
but also to expand into a broader set of obesity related diseases.

CEOCFO: What have you figured out?

Dr. Kiernan:Our approach is
based around the biology of a molecule called Apolipoprotein CIII (ApoCIII),
which is actually kind of a hot topic when it comes to fat metabolism in the
body. Our research not only has shown this as a viable target in the
treatment of elevated blood fat, this has been validated by the research of
others.

CEOCFO: If you understand the role what
can you do to change it?

Dr. Kiernan:Our intent is to
utilize our protein based biologic to simply disrupt the undesirable
function that ApoCIII facilitates as a part of our body’s natural biologic
process. We want to be able to maintain this natural balance and ability of
the body to metabolize heavy dietary fat loads for a longer period of time.
This is a growing issue here in western society, as we face the challenge of
secondary factors causing obesity. These are poor diet and lack of
exercise. What we need to do is come down to the molecular level and
preserve what the body is naturally supposed to do, but for an extended
period of time. That is what we are trying to achieve. We are actually in a
unique situation as our program is akin to a program within Akcea
Therapeutics in terms of our specific target. They actually took their
molecule Volanesorsen, which also targets ApoCIII, all the way through
biologic license application with the FDA for the treatment of an orphan
disease for of hyperlipidemia. Unfortunately, due to safety concerns related
to their drug chemistry, the application was rejected. However, there was a
lot we learned from their efforts and provided us with a very good template
all the while independently validating ApoCIII as a therapeutic target.

CEOCFO: How does the protein or the
biologic that you have work? How does it change what is happening?

Dr. Kiernan:Apolipoprotein
CIII has multiple functions, but one thing it does is it acts like an
inhibitor to the molecules that are responsible for digesting fat in the
bloodstream. What our drug does is simply prevent this inhibition from
actually taking place. We are not trying to mess with protein expression or
gene silencing. Once the protein is expressed we are simply looking to stop
it from shutting natural fat metabolism system off.

CEOCFO: What have you found so far
in the process of research and development?

Dr. Kiernan:From a general
research standpoint, there is so much opportunity out there. All you have to
do is, in all honesty, open up your eyes and pay attention. Unfortunately,
science is plagued with myopia and you can get so focused on a particular
problem that you forget to see the forest through the trees. Just going back
as part of our current drug discovery and development program, as well as
other programs in development, we have realized that there are so many great
ideas that were brought forward historically, but many were just simply too
early for their time. The science and technologies that were required in
order to do a good job just we not there. Coming back with a fresh
perspective and putting a new spin on things with current technology there
is room within the scientific community to come back and reevaluate them. A
so called re-innovating of old ideas; from a humanity standpoint there are
many good potential answers that can be enacted upon with today’s
technology.

CEOCFO: Would you tell us a little
bit about the team you have in place?

Dr. Kiernan:The team is small
as we are a startup company. We have very broad backgrounds; myself as CEO,
I have research and management skills through my previous roles in both
small and large businesses that has spanned almost two decades. This
experience has allowed me to observe and recognize the best of both worlds
that small and large business offer. This always has me thinking about how
we create a strategic game plan in which we grow from a small company into a
large business. This obviously requires some grey hairs and we have this in
our COO, Dr Stephen Naylor, who has a broad industry and academic
background. We also have a couple of additional team members serving on
board and/or in management roles that have very specialized skills in the
area of business law as well as in accounting/finance. Then, above and
beyond this core are our advisory boards. These boards are one of the real
critical factors that I have focused on over the last two years as a part of
the inception and development of iMetabolic Biopharma Corporation as an
actual company. However, rather than just throwing them all into one board,
we have formed a business advisory, a scientific advisor, as well as a
medical advisory board. These boards have been populated with top tier
thinkers with very broad, but very strong experience within each of their
respective fields. This segregation allows management to ask very specific
questions to capture on their expertise and then take those summaries across
boards. This is working quite well for us as the mindsets between Ph.D.,
M.D. and MBA are all very different. It is amazing if you ask the same
question to all three groups, how very different the answers coming forward
actually are. However, having cross team discussions has allowed for the
formulation of appropriate actionable items that we as a management team can
actually execute on.

CEOCFO: Are you seeking funding,
partnerships or investment? Where are you today?

Dr. Kiernan:Actually, all of
the above! From a partnership standpoint there are some very specific
initiatives that we are trying to push forward that extends beyond our
management team’s core expertise. Working with an industrial partner can
provide us with assistance in those specific areas, but since we are not
under confidentiality I cannot reveal and specifics at this time. However,
we are always looking to bring more partners in the form of advisory board
members into the company. I really do not have a problem with having very
good depth charts within these boards. It just adds a validity to the
company. Then obviously, from any business standpoint, capitalization is a
critical factor. We are always looking at capitalizing the company. We are
still currently technically in our seed round, but we are looking at closing
this very shortly here and moving forward with our Series A.

CEOCFO: Does the medical community and the
investment community understand what you are doing? Is it a relatively easy
concept?

Dr. Kiernan:Conceptually; I
know that yes, they do get it. Functionally, no. When we speak with
clinicians, obviously those that are versed in hyperlipidemia (elevated
blood fat); they fully understand what it is that we are trying to achieve.
There is actually a lot of support for what we are trying to do. Our program
is really quite simple at its core. However, they are shackled by regulatory
guidelines which limit adoption of new techniques, therapies and procedures.
It takes a lot of strategic data to get over this hurdle. That is simply
because there is a certain level of liability upon them. This is a drawn out
process, obviously with going through the FDA clinical trials; which
ultimately you need to make sure that not only do you get regulatory
approval, but you also unequivocally answer the questions necessary to gain
adoption by physicians as a part of those clinical trials. Simply put, are
you answering all the questions that will satisfy a clinician and make them
compelled to write the prescription for your drug for the benefit of their
patients. If you miss a key factor then you have to go back and perform
clinical trials in order to answer those questions. This becomes quite
expensive. This is why our medical advisory board is separate from the
scientific advisory board. It allows us to ask those key questions up front
and ascertain those answers.

Now, regarding
the investment community, they ask very different questions and look for
very different answers. They look for, “When can we exit and what is our ROI
on this deal.” They also ask specific questions regarding the management
team and their potential view of whether or not you are going to be
successful in this endeavor. They are just coming at it from a business
mindset.

CEOCFO: Why is iMetabolic Biopharma
Corporation an important company?

Dr. Kiernan:We are
directly dealing with the epidemic that is driven by westernization. There
is no other way to cut it. Every developing country is experiencing growth
pains in the area of obesity and obesity related disorders. There needs to
be a concerted effort to do better in terms of creating therapeutic
interventions that will help these patients outside of the sound bite
response of improved diet and exercise. Western society is, unfortunately,
not allowing for much success with that type of prescription. If you look at
the Centers in Disease Control, one in three Americans is now defined as
clinically obese. This is not just an adult problem as twenty nine percent
of pediatrics are now defined as clinically obese. This is absolutely
frightening, because this is the future of our country. Seeing this level,
these rates of obesity and the equivalent growth of obesity related
diseases/their co-morbidities, is mind bogging. There are now obesity
related diseases that are up to forty percent of the population in certain
demographics that were not even defined as diseases twenty to twenty five
years ago. It is absolutely bizarre to see how we have eaten ourselves into
this problem. This massive problem is why iMetabolic Biopharma Corporation
exists.

“Founded on the premise of developing therapies to treat obesity related
diseases, a plague in western society.”
- Dr. Urban A. Kiernan